Chastity leaned into the wall by the archway that separated her and Rain. “Not meditating?”

“Nah.”

“Did you contact Love Lost and Colt?”

The phone, sitting on the hallway table, buzzed. Every set of eyes present went to it.

“Yeah,” Rain said, voice soft. “They’re as ready as they can be. I told them about the meditating.”

I pressed the button.

“Victoria Dallon speaking. My team is here.”

It was a man’s voice, but not Defiant’s. Legend? “You can make your pitch. We’ll record it and disseminate it if there isn’t anything problematic or deceptive.”

Kenzie reached over, tapping on the belly portion of my breastplate. I covered up the mouthpiece.

“Video?” she asked.

“Can it be video?” I asked.

“Yes. Do you have a camera nearby? It’s my experience that no video is better than a low resolution laptop video.”

“We have a camera tinker.”

“Ah,” he said. A pause, a moment longer than necessary. I had no idea if he was checking records or smacking himself in the face. “Can she plug into the phone? It should receive the video signal.”

“Yes.”

“Call us if you run into any difficulty. We’ll await your notification. The message will go to all radio, some cell phones, televisions in the camps have them. We’ll notify Patrol groups on downtime that they should watch, but we won’t force them to attend. If there are enough volunteers at a given camp, we’ll use the portals to bring them where we need them. Have them gather together and use three green flares in an open area if they’re willing.”

“Thank you.”

“Good luck.”

With that, he hung up.

Kenzie ran off to get a camera.

I frowned, my arms folded. People are going to die.

“Do you remember what you’re going to say?” Tristan asked, sitting on the stairs.

“I think so. We could go over it again, but every minute counts.”

“Pen and paper,” Sveta said. “In case we need to communicate anything.”

“Let’s do this outside,” I said. Kenzie had just returned with the camera. “For the background. Cabins and fires make a better backdrop than something that might make it seem like we’re cozy in our homes when most of Gimel is living in tents.”

We moved outside. I looked back over the camp, walked over to where the backdrop was better and brighter, with a line of fires and various people gathered, some crates the Patrol had brought now stacked beneath the eaves of Rain’s family’s barn.

“Ready?” Kenzie asked. Her camera produced a light, illuminating me a bit. She adjusted it.

“Yeah.”

“Five. Four. Three. Two. One.”

The light on the side of the camera went green.

“Citizens of Gimel,” I spoke to the camera, grateful for the moment at my upbringing, at the lessons in poise and presentation. Now I just had to get the words right.